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Available
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Publication
University of Texas Press
Description
Since its first publication in 1968, Bill C. Malone's Country Music USA has won universal acclaim as the definitive history of American country music. Starting with the music's folk roots in the rural South, it traces country music from the early days of radio into the twenty-first century. In this fiftieth-anniversary edition, Malone, the featured historian in Ken Burns's 2019 documentary on country music, has revised every chapter to offer new information and fresh insights. Coauthor Tracey Laird tracks developments in country music in the new millennium, exploring the relationship between the current music scene and the traditions from which it emerged.
User reviews
LibraryThing member joeldinda
A good solid history of country music, which I first encountered as a college textbook in 1982. This edition covers country music through about 1980 really well, with separate coverage of bluegrass and a bit of folk music in the mix.
Except the last two chapters. I found the next-to-last chapter, by
The last chapter, by co-author Tracey EW Laird, is just annoying. While there's some good work in the chapter, it's tied way too closely to the Dixie Chicks (a group I love, by the way). It begins and ends with their CMA performance with Beyonce; in between there's discussion of their "controversial" politics. Some of that discussion certainly belongs in this book, but it shouldn't have been central to the chapter.
Except the last two chapters. I found the next-to-last chapter, by
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Malone, unsatisfactory--while it talks about late-twentieth-century country music at about the same level of detail as the rest of the book, the treatment's relatively superficial.The last chapter, by co-author Tracey EW Laird, is just annoying. While there's some good work in the chapter, it's tied way too closely to the Dixie Chicks (a group I love, by the way). It begins and ends with their CMA performance with Beyonce; in between there's discussion of their "controversial" politics. Some of that discussion certainly belongs in this book, but it shouldn't have been central to the chapter.
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